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One Tough Nerd

When he ran for governor of Michigan in 2010, Republican Rick Snyder campaigned, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as "One Tough Nerd." Now, in his second year in office, the squeaky-voiced former Gateway Computer chairman and venture capitalist is flexing his muscles in a high-stakes clash with an 85-year-old billionaire.

Snyder's nemesis is Manuel "Matty" Moroun, a trucking and logistics magnate who operates his $1.5 billion empire out of a converted elementary school in a working-class suburb of Detroit. Moroun also happens to control the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ont., the most lucrative border crossing between the United States and Canada. It carries 8,000 trucks a day and $120 billion worth of goods a year. Snyder wants to build a second bridge a couple of miles away to relieve bottlenecks, expand trade and provide an alternative crossing in case of a catastrophe. He's also pitching the public-private bridge as a jobs creator in a state that desperately needs them.

Not surprisingly, Moroun objects. He doesn't want to see any change that would threaten his $100 million annual revenue stream. If anybody's going to build a new bridge, he wants to do it, right next to his existing one. But the people of Windsor are fed up by truck traffic on their local streets, and so far he's been unable to obtain the necessary Canadian permits.

Moroun is a fighter, though. Until now, he has managed to fend off the threat of competition with a barrage of lawsuits, TV ads and political contributions to Michigan legislators and key members of Congress. He's spent at least $5 million on political-style attack ads and mailings crafted by advisers that include Fox TV commentator Dick Morris and Americans for Prosperity, the free-market advocacy group founded by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch. He's bought political influence as well, through family contributions of at least $776,000 to lawmakers since 2009. Most notable was a $100,000 contribution his son, Matthew, gave to the Michigan Republican Party last fall, one month before the bridge proposal died in a committee of the GOP-controlled state Senate.

Billionaire Matty Moroun

Now Moroun, famous for protecting his own interests, has suddenly gone populist. He's bankrolling a petition drive to amend the Michigan Constitution so that any new bridge or tunnel to Canada would require a statewide vote. On Thursday, a group called The People Should Decide said it had collected more than enough signatures to get the referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot. "This question will be put on the ballot as to who will decide the border issue in Michigan: A bureaucrat or the people," said the group's director, Mickey Blashfield, who is also head of government relations for Moroun's bridge company.

But the Nerd governor isn't backing down either. "This is a case where you had one special interest that essentially had a near monopoly on a situation making a lot of money at other people's expense now spending that money doing misleading ads," Snyder told me in an interview. "That’s not a good way to run things. It’s important that one special interest shouldn’t override the interests of millions of citizens."

He has apparently been reading up on state law and thinks he already has authority to build the bridge without the Legislature's approval or a public vote. Invoking something called the Urban Cooperation Act of 1967, Snyder last week announced an "inter-local agreement" between Michigan and Canada--basically, a deal between two government bodies to create a jointly controlled entity. In this case, the state of Michigan and the government of Canada agreed to create an International Authority, consisting of three appointees each, to oversee the design, construction, operation and maintenance of a new bridge.

Michigan is too broke to pay for a $1 billion bridge, however. Yet Snyder, aware of Canada's hatred for Moroun and its desire to advance its own economy, was able to negotiate a sweetheart deal: Canada will advance Michigan's $550 million share, including land acquisition, new roads and part of the cost of a U.S. Customs inspection plaza, and will keep all the tolls collected until the debt is paid back. As gravy, that $550 million can be used to qualify for U.S. federal matching grants for road projects statewide. Snyder insists Michigan will pay nothing but will get 10,000 construction jobs, better roads and an opportunity for long-term growth.

At an appearance Thursday, the governor said he doesn't believe the referendum will delay the bridge project. "We shouldn't wait. We have more and better jobs needed in Michigan, and we're moving forward. We have a great agreement with Canada."